And he would pay for a house call.
I created a contact for his number, adding his name and address.
“What time are you coming today?”
“Today?”Was he crazy? “I’ve already seen Kaiser today.”
“He needs to be seen again…when he gets home…to make sure he’s settling in okay.”
“You can’t do that yourself? It’s not hard to watch over him and call me if there’s a problem.”
“No, I can’t.” He looked appalled. “That’s what you’re for.”
“Fine.” I bent down next to Kaiser on the table. He cut his eyes over to me briefly before ignoring me again. “I’ll do it…forhim.” As much shit as I talked, I loved animals. It was the reason I wanted to become a veterinarian in the first place. “I get off at six. I’ll swing by say…seven.”
The quick suck and release he did with his lip had me staring…andturned on.
“Okay,” he agreed. “Is there anything you need?”
“Yeah, dinner,” I offered sarcastically, following up with a chuckle.
“What do you want?”
He was serious.
“I’m just playing.”
“I’m not,” he said firmly. Then he asked again, “What do you want? It’s the least I can do.”
“I don’t want nothing, Keyoni.”
“Well, I’m doing it anyway.”
The gesture was nice and made me feel all giddy inside. Men rarely did things for me. When they did, it was usually because they wanted something in return. Keyoni wanted something too, but with him I felt it was an even exchange.
Food for my time.
“Surprise me.”
“Is there something you don’t like?”
“I like everything.”
As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I liked him too.
“Noted.” He used his strong arms to pick up his eighty-seven-pound partner. “Time to go home, boy.”
Kaiser’s tail twitched.
KEYONI
Sometimes, I couldn’t turn the job off. Even when I was technically off-duty, and taking Kaiser home, the suspicious-looking car in front of me had my attention. It wasn’t anythingfancy, but a make and model I remembered being told to look out for. The color was right, beige, but the out of state plates stuck out like a sore thumb.
I immediately called it in.
“Hey, it’s Green,” I told the dispatcher. “I need you to run a plate for me.”
When it came back to a totally different car, I turned on the lights and started the chase after the driver decided to floor it around the Diamond Falls streets. But I didn’t give up. I had nothing but time and a full tank of gas since the idiot wanted to put others at harm with his erratic driving.
